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Wisconsin Lawyer gives Ivy Briefs a thumbs up:  "This book is an enjoyable, well written, light summer read that will entertain lawyers and nonlawyers alike. It is a book to pick up at the beach and read while sipping lemonade."  The full review is available here.

IVY BRIEFS has been selected as required reading for the upper-level Psychology and Law class at Mount Saint Mary's University!

IVY BRIEFS is the non-fiction pick of the week at the online book club Dear Reader, which is featured at public libraries across the country.

Law Vibe has given Ivy Briefs two big thumbs up!

You can read the full review here, or savor these few tidbits:

"Set your coffee pot going now, because you're not going to want to put this book down until you finish."

"I highly recommend Ivy Briefs, whether or not you're a law student or you're in the legal profession. It gives you a great glimpse into the author's life, with a great deal of insightful commentary, humor, and heartfelt stories."

"Martha adds humor, comedy, wit, insight, and endearing self-deprecation to her writing that really makes you feel that you're inside Columbia Law School and she's your best friend, confiding her inner-most thoughts with you."

"Most law books are either too boring or border too much on intense dramatics, of how "impossible" law school is. Rubbish. This book tells it like it is."

"Ivy Briefs is a fascinating and insightful look into law school and beyond. . . In this funny yet very true to life and entertaining memoir, Kimes shows readers the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of becoming a laywer.

"Ivy Briefs is compulsively readable and should appeal to a wide variety of people-lawyers and non-legal-types alike."

You can read the full review here.

"I highly recommend this book for lawyers and non-lawyers alike.  It's a funny and entertaining read."

You can read the full review here.

Thomas Adcock at The New York Law Journal wrote a very nice piece about Martha Kimes and Saira Rao (author of the new novel Chambermaid).  You can read it here.

You can read the full piece here.

Ivy Briefs was featured in an article in the May, 2007 edition of the ABA Journal.  You can read the piece here.

On May 19, 2007, Martha was a guest on the nationally-syndicated Joey Reynolds Show, broadcast from New York's famous WOR Studios.

The winner of the funny law school story contest is Shantel Boone, who just graduated from Wake Forest University School of Law.  Congratulations, Shantel!

Here's her winning story:

I was in my the middle of second semester of my first year of law school and the summer job race had just gotten into full swing. As a result, I was being more than a little lax with keeping up with my reading. One afternoon, I went to Constitutional Law class, opened my book to an arbitrary page, pushed it aside and started checking my email, talking on instant messenger, and editing my resume for a job interview I had that afternoon.

All of a sudden my teacher said in his deep nasal voice, "Ms. Boone, what do you think about the Court's ruling in this case?" Not wanting to admit I had no idea what we case we were even talking about, I decided that I would just agree with the Court's reasoning...after all, it's law school..there's no wrong answer, right?

So I began to B.S., applauding the Court's reasoning, and saying that we must trust that they were correctly interpreting the Consitution for the good of the populus. Then, I sat back, self- satisfied and asked the professor, "Who can argue with sound legal reasoning?"

It was only when I shut up that I realized the entire class had spun around to stare at me with their mouths gaping open.  One student gave an audible "WHAT!?" and the teacher was smirking at me. It turns out, the reading for that day was Plessy v. Ferguson (where the court basically held that seperate but equal was just fine and upheld segregation).

I'm sure it wouldnt have been SO bad -- but I am an AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN!  My 3L superlative this year was "Most likely to refer to Plessy v Ferguson as Sound Legal reasoning" and my section mates still tell the story. :)

Need a break from studying for your Civil Procedure exam? Want a little interruption from that brief you've been drafting for weeks?

Take a few minutes to e-mail your funniest (true) law school story to me at martha@marthakimes.com.

The best story wins a free signed copy of my book, Ivy Briefs: True Tales of a Neurotic Law Student. Contest open through May 7. (You can get it before it even hits the shelves!)

Come on, make me laugh!